Fairest of them all
by justagame
Summary: Where others had curves Lily had angles and planes. Her pale skin was covered with unforgiving freckles that covered her face and shoulders. Instead of blushing, Lily just became red. Not even when she cried did she gain one ounce of beauty. But now this


_**Fairest of them all**_

_Introduction:_

_Where others had curves Lily had angles and planes. Her pale skin was covered with unforgiving freckles that covered her face and shoulders. Instead of blushing, Lily just became red. Not even when she cried did she gain one ounce of beauty. But now this was all to change with the discovery of a magical mirror._

DISCLAIMER: as a rabid read of marauder fan fictions, I clearly know that events in their lives played out nothing like this… I won't try to fool you. But I though that it would be interesting to see if my imagination can create this sort of story. I also know that J.K has described several points that conflict with my repersentation; A) Lily was not butt ugly. B) James was not despratly in love with another girl. C) Lily wasn not unloved by her family, (quite the opposite really). D) Peter was probably not as big a twerp as I make him out to be. I also would like to add…. THIS IS A FANFICTION! Thus I am making no profit off it…duh. However you should enjoy it. You're enjoyment shall fill my fridge.

Chapter 1: _"the Ugly Duckling"_

Her hair was limp and lifeless. Her skin, dull and uneven. Even her once electric green eyes had become concealed behind permanent bags that had formed over the years from a lack of sleep. The more Lily thought about her appearance the more it became clear that she had only herself to blame.

Lily rested her head on folded hands and sighed.

It wasn't that she had both of her eyes enlarged and her lips severed off her face. It was more that she lacked the ambition or the time to change into one of those bubbly flirtatious girls that pranced around Hogwarts. If she had been more conscious of her appearance at an earlier stage, then maybe this could have been avoided.

But for the smart, sixth year, Hogwarts student that didn't really matter. Potions was the only thing on her mind at the moment. Well, potions, exams, the beginning of her NEWT year, her study plan for the holidays, study guides she would need to buy and many other study related items were also on her mind; but certinally not beauty.

While Lily was caught up in her own study related world one of her fellow students, Freya Powell to be precise, decided it would be hilarious if she dipped the end of Lily's hair into her ink pot. Freya cast a smug look as she skillfully grasped a lock of the red head's frizz and dipped it into the pot of black ink that sat on Freya's desk. Silently she let the lock of hair fall back into place, creating a sploch of black ink to soak into Lily's uniform. Freya then yawned and returned to her half attentive state as potions class continued.

Once potions had finished, Lily did become wary of the other students staring and pointing, whispering as she walked past them on her way to the library. Still feeling akward she found her usual table, the one inbetween sections Me – N the first book being "Merlin's tips to Wizarding Success", a very misleading title as it speaks nothing of success and wasn't even written by Merlin.

Still unbeknownst to the wet ink on her back, Lily draped her cloak over the backrest, opened up her bag and pulled out her Charms essay she had been working on and, finally, sat down. Within that instant Lily's mind changed from Potions to Charms and her hand began to elegantly scraw down her thoughts.

The essay was an extra credit task she had volunteered to do. Apparantly no one else found the process of cagorising charms, jinxs and hexes interesting but Lily, coming from a muggle family, found every little aspect of Charms exciting. Thus it was not a rare occurance that she could be found working on extra credit essays. This studious state was interupted by the arrivial of Lily's only friend, Penny Graves.

Penny was a Hufflepuff student that spent most of her time quietly day-dreaming. She had prominent cheek bones and small lips, her hair was cut short just below her jaw line. She was one of the shorter girls out of the sixth year students and had a lithe body frame that helped her slip between crowds unnoticed.

"You weren't there at lunch" Penny said as she pulled out a sheet of paper covered with interesting objects she had seen that day. Small birds in flight, the back of the person in front of her, interesting leaf shapes and weird cloud formations that she would have to look up in her "_Unlocking the Heaven's messages_" book later.

"Charms was beconing me," Lily answered quickly, "and besides, the library is so much quieter when everyone else is stuffing their face."

"I think I might… Ah! Here you go." Penny pulled out from her book bag a single, shining, red apple and placed on the book infront of Lily. "Eat it or you'll go hungry"

Lily eyed the apple with distaste. She hated apples, especially red ones. They were too sweet, and would hurt her teeth when she bit into them. "I'll be fine," she said while moving the apple away, "I'll grab something later"

Penny shrugged and reclaimed the apple. Shinning it once more on her sleeve and then slipping it back into her bag. She then returned to her sketches while Lily finnished off her essay.

Not before long the library began to fill with the inane chatter of students returning from lunch. The noise became such a nusence that Lily became fed up. In a huff, she gathered her belongings and in a very childish manner crossed her arms in distain. Her friend did not seem at all disturbed by the noise. Infact Penny had changed her subject matter to capturing the life and movement of a table within their sight.

Lily caught a glimps of penny's vision, sketchy figures in perfect perspective, and sighed, "I think it's amazing how you can do that" Lily said genuinely. Penny returned her attention to her.

"Really?" the words brought her out of her trance, "you know you probably could draw too if you tried" penny added encouragingly. In a slight giggleing fit Lily packed her bag and stood up to stretch.

"Um Lily, I think that you may want to change, or possible wash your hair before your next class?"

Confused, Lily's hand jumped to her scalp and slowly moved its way down towards the ends. She felt something damp, and pulled it over her shoulder. "Well this is just perfect," Lily groaned as she rubbed the ink that stainedd her hair.

"Third time this week" Penny added.

"Once I find this person I swear…" Lily's mind filled with curses, jinxes and hexs that she would never use, but perhaps threaten with if she were to meet this person. Penny sighed and also began to pack up. "To the common room"she then added dramatically.

~*~*~*~*~

While Lily was in the common room, Penny had no choice but to wait outside. She would sit quietly beside a statuette that framed the corridor to the Gryffindor common room. Happily she went unnoticed, but instead stared off through a nearby window that overlooked the quidditch grounds. With her perspective she saw the clouds, her mind already analysing them for any meaning. Faint laughter could be heard from where she sat along with the wizzing of students who were enjoying their last week of school with a 'friendly' quidditch match.

Penny stood up and peered out the window watching these students. With her trusty sketchbook in hand she began to plot out the sketches for these speed deamons. Turning torsos and rippling cloaks; she had just managed to capture the moment the Keeper saveing the goal when Lily strode out from the common room.

"I see the marauders are wasting time as usual"

"Ma-rau-ders?" Penny asked slowly, sort of playing with each syllable as it rolled off the tounge. She saw Lily roll her eyes, presumably, at her.

"You know, Sirius Black, James Potter and the rest of them. They've been calling eachother by these senseless nicknames ever since the dawn of time." Penny looked quizically at Lily, and smiled as she prepared for another rant.

"I mean, Wormtail? Moony? Padfoot and Prongs? Tell me that these names don't make sense to you too." Lily's question lingered in the air as Penny began to let her mind mull.

"Well," Penny thought out loud, "perhaps, Peter has a sort of genetic mutation. James is sort of tall and lanky, like a pole rather then a prong but oh well. Remus might have a secret obsession with mooning people and then Sirius… no Sirius's name confuses me too." She said as she removed the sketchy lines around one side of her drawing and then finally finishing up at the window.

"Perhaps you're right Penny" sarcastic or sincere? Penny could quite read that sentence.

"Is quidditch really that fun?" Penny asked, as her mind was digressing.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked her. To penny the question seemed obvious, but perhaps it was the word _fun_ that had confused Lily. Either way Penny rethought the question.

"Well they all seem to be enjoying it, even the spectators enjoy the game"

"oh please sports like these are just a way for males to practice battle tactics. Those who become so worked up in a sport like this are better known as the lowest common demoninator."

"oh, I see." the answer was very typical of Lily; slightly withdrawn and objective and ofcourse uses a lot of big words. A normal friend would have maybe been concerned about this, but this was the friendship the two of them had. Each was there to merely keep check on the other. Or rather just there so they didn't both look like loners.

Lily took one last glance out to the pitch and cursed them all. She cursed them for being carefree and natural around others, for having the face of an angel and the personality to match.

"Lily?"

Penny had already started to walk away from the commonroom enterence. "Are you coming to lunch or am I going to have to force feed you the apple?"


End file.
